this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2026
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[–] heliotrope@slrpnk.net 147 points 2 days ago (7 children)

ковер плесень means "carpet mold"

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 1 points 11 hours ago

the original astrophage.

[–] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 62 points 2 days ago

Weird name for a space movie.

[–] antonim@lemmy.world 41 points 2 days ago (1 children)

It's probably google translated to Russian, since it's just two nouns slapped together.

[–] balsoft@lemmy.ml 10 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Yeah, Google Translate also translates carpet as "ковер" instead of the proper spelling (ковёр), and it actually does translate "carpet mold" as "ковер плесень" (instead of a more proper translation like "ковровая плесень" or "плесень в ковре").

I'd say it's 99% google translate

[–] antonim@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Eh, both are proper spelling, I don't think any Russian manual said it's mandatory. The ë is used mainly in dictionaries, Russian schoolbooks, etc. where ambiguity should be minimal.

[–] SlurpingPus@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago (2 children)

It's also used by people who respect the language and don't want to see it gradually turn into a shitshow like English where it's spelled ‘Manchester’, pronounced ‘Liverpool’.

[–] martti@suppo.fi 2 points 21 hours ago (2 children)

That's how zero-understanding of linguistics looks like .

[–] Kangae_Hishiryo@scribe.disroot.org 2 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

It's not like what he said isn't true or actually correct. That's actually comprehending how languages work.

[–] antonim@lemmy.world 1 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Russian won't turn into a shitshow because of people not using ë, that's catastrophism. No language has turned into a shitshow, for that matter, English functions well too.

[–] SlurpingPus@lemmy.world 2 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

“I haven't seen thing happen during my lifetime, therefore thing doesn't happen.”

[–] antonim@lemmy.world 1 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

What is the thing that's supposed to happen? You said English already is a 'shitshow' (not a thing that could've happened in our lifetime, but long ago), but it isn't a shitshow, and that's what I responded to, so you're moving the topic here.

[–] Kangae_Hishiryo@scribe.disroot.org 2 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

It is a shitshow. I mean, what the fuck with the totally inconsistent, incoherent and incongruent phonetics (and grammar, and syntax, and spelling...)? That meme ("it's spelled 'Liverpool', it's pronounced 'Manchester'") is more of an anecdote than a joke.

[–] antonim@lemmy.world 2 points 14 hours ago

The only thing you listed that could be described as particularly inconsistent is spelling. But non-phonemic spelling is found in countless other languages and doesn't really hamper the language. It might even be helpful for languages with diverse accents. English could be revised on some points with no issue (, and some other cases), but overall it's functional.

As for the rest, I don't know how phonetics could be inconsistent. Like, is it inconsistent that frogs is pronounced as /frogz/, but clocks as /kloks/, so the -s plural ending is realised differently in different words? As for grammar, what about it? Do you think it's unusual for a language to have "irregular" forms such as buy-bought rather than *buyed? Tons of languages have them, I doubt if there's any without "irregularities" at all.

(Note: syntax is a part of grammar.)

Viewing these things as a shitshow, as something particularly negative or even harmful, is literally anti-scientific.

[–] SlurpingPus@lemmy.world 3 points 21 hours ago (1 children)
[–] martti@suppo.fi -3 points 21 hours ago (2 children)

I wonder how a person with such a great love to his rodnoй яzõk , can have no interest in it at all (or how any languages work in modern standards) , meanwhile commenting stupid shit like this.

[–] SlurpingPus@lemmy.world 0 points 21 hours ago

Well, it doesn't matter what I write, does it? Why would I care then how it works?

[–] antonim@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

When was the last time you read a book which used ë regularly (as in, not just in cases as distinguishing все-всё)?

[–] SlurpingPus@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

For better or worse, I've been reading almost exclusively in English for years, but also listening to English audiobooks wherein I learned a lot of new things about words that I've seen before. That's precisely why I've become more entrenched in my belief that ‘ё’ shouldn't be optional. And use it myself always.

[–] antonim@lemmy.world 0 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

If you had read books in Russian, you'd notice that basically no Russian writer after Karamzin (who IIRC proposed the ë letter himself) "respected" the Russian language enough to use the letter. It's legitimate for you to use it (all the better for me as a foreign speaker), but it's not something to act elitist about.

Whether Russian will go in the direction of English depends on how its pronunciation develops, for now it's still pretty close to the spelling, although there are words and forms such as "моего, сегодня" that are pronounced as "моево, севодня". I wonder how many people would support changing this spelling.

[–] SlurpingPus@lemmy.world 2 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (1 children)

In no way am I elitist about it. I'm just opposed to the language moving away from being phonemic, and am rather alarmist about that prospect, even though I know full well that the pronunciation will drift away while the spelling stays conservative.

‘его’ is at least a typical consistent rule, mapping to the pronunciation ‘ево’ in the same places in various words, just like ‘eau’ in French. But the replacement of ‘ё’ with ‘е’ is just egregious violation of a letter that has its own sound, without any reason for that.

[–] antonim@lemmy.world 3 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

In no way am I elitist about it

I think that equating respect for language with usage of the letter and vague guilt-tripping of people who don't use it is elitist.

the replacement of ‘ё’ with ‘е’

It's the other way around, actually, 'e' is the original letter and sound, the sound changed by the 18th century or so (as far as I'm aware) and then the modified letter was proposed but never made generally mandatory. People aren't replacing anything, they're writing same as always.

‘его’ is at least a typical consistent rule, mapping to the pronunciation ‘ево’ in the same places in various words

The name Егор doesn't follow it, but моего and сегодня do. Why? You have to explain the etymology of сегодня at the very least to make sense of it, undermining the consistency.

[–] SlurpingPus@lemmy.world 1 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

equating respect for language with usage of the letter and vague guilt-tripping of people who don't use it is elitist

Indeed, anyone using ‘q’ is better than others.

Oh wait, could you please check real quick if ‘ё’, a letter of the alphabet taught in school, maps unambiguously to a specific sound?

the modified letter was proposed but never made generally mandatory

Well maybe it was proposed because ‘ё’ denotes a very particular sound? Which, notably, Western languages can never quite approximate with their feeble ‘yo’ attempts, though Nordic languages do have a vaguely similar ‘ø’ or somesuch.

The name Егор doesn't follow it, but моего and сегодня do. Why?

Well, perhaps because the letters are in a different position? Why is /ˈlɔɹəns/ of Arabia not pronounced akin to /ˈsɛsəl/ B. Demille?

[–] antonim@lemmy.world 2 points 14 hours ago

So yeah, you haven't really responded to the statement that your position is elitist, or at least smartassery that no linguist actually supports.

maybe it was proposed because ‘ё’ denotes a very particular sound?

Indeed. And then it wasn't made generally mandatory, and then the Russian language continued to work fine.

Which, notably, Western languages can never quite approximate

Why would that be remotely notable here? We're talking about Russian spelling of Russian language.

perhaps because the letters are in a different position?

And what is that position that makes the difference?

[–] balsoft@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 day ago

Fair enough. I tend to use it because it just reduces scanning ambiguity when reading text quickly.

[–] mechoman444@lemmy.world 17 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Well rug... Not carpet. And it's literally saying the carpet is the mold. So it would better translate to rug-mold.

[–] balsoft@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

"Ковёр" is closer to "carpet" I'd argue. I'd translate "rug" as "коврик"

[–] mechoman444@lemmy.world 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I would agree with you. There's a regional difference I was born in Lvov Ukraine so I speak a more Ukrainian Russian. But I would venture to say that палас would be a more accurate word over all.

[–] vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works 1 points 21 hours ago (2 children)

So just running a double check due to my historical map game infected brain, is Lvov the same as the historical Liviv? I know that different regions have different names depending on language, culture, and region or is this just a case of two places having really similar/ the same name for reasons, IE Ontario Canada vs Ontario California.

[–] antonim@lemmy.world 2 points 15 hours ago

Same city, Lvov is the Russian and Lviv is the Ukrainian name. Ukrainian has historically shifted many 'o's to 'i'.

[–] mechoman444@lemmy.world 2 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Yes. It is now called Lviv. At the time is was called Lvov because I was born during the Soviet era.

[–] vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works 2 points 9 hours ago

Thanks I knew there have been multiple names for that city due to Soviet fuckery and whatnot but wasn't sure. Like I knew it was originally Polish, then it was absorbed by the Soviets when they shoved everyone westward, and now it's Ukrainian but I wasn't quite sure.

[–] Shindo66@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago

The carpet is the mold, what a brilliant idea!

[–] Septimaeus@infosec.pub 10 points 2 days ago

Ah just like me babushka used to make

[–] jdr@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 days ago